PhD Thesis Summary: Imagining the West: Marginality and Possible Lives at the Outskirts of a Mexican City Mgr. Marie Heřmanová The thesis aims to develop various results of a long-term fieldwork in the city of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, México, where rural-urban migration was pervasive since the 1960s. The research concentrated on the second generation of Tzotzil and Tzeltal migrants living at the suburbs of the city. Young indigenous people, whose parents came to the city to seek jobs, are now completely bilingual (they speak their maternal language - mostly Tzotzil as well as spanish they have learned in the school in the city). They mostly work in the same areas as the first generation migrants - as shop-keepers, souvenirs sellers or street-food vendors. They are thus in everyday interaction with both tourist and expats in the city centre. These interactions and meetings are in the context of the thesis seen as a consitutive element to imageries of mobility, modernity and Western lifestyles developed by the the young indigenous people from the suburbs. The concept if "Imaginary West" (Yurchak 2005) is central in the thesis, an unseen and yet ever-present homeland of the tourists and most importantly a place where "better lives" happen. The text explores how the search for...

This thesis deals with Japanese foreign and security policy through the optics of critical geopolitics, specifically the "geopolitics as culture" notion developed by Gearóid Ó Tuathail. Using this notion as an analytical framework, the development of Japan's foreign and security policy from the establishment of a modern Japanese state till present days is analyzed, with three main concepts being addressed: (1) foreign policy traditions; (2) geopolitical and geostrategic discourses; (3) and strategic and geopolitical culture. For reasons of narrowing the topic down and applying the concept more consistently, one specific element of Japanese foreign and security policy is at the centre of attention: Japan's "maritime identity". The goal of the thesis is to identify and characterize Japan's geopolitical imagination and attempt to determine if and how has this imagination been expressed in the country's security policy with regard to the maritime identity. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The dissertation Alternative Ontology, subtitled Topological Imagination and Topological Materialism, focuses on the analysis of spatial phenomena and space in the intentions of the mathematical discipline of topology, which is interested in spaces from the point of view of set theory. My goal is to present topology as a tool not only for contemporary philosophy, but also for artistic creation. For the purpose of the dissertation, I formulate two concepts: Topological imagination and Topological materialism. Topological imagination is a tool and method for creating and thinking with the consciousness of space as a dynamic structure, which is not bound only by fixed laws of geometry. This method originated as the name of my long-term artistic practice, which is largely based on the study of space, topology, knot theory and the search for ways of their application in artistic and theoretical work. I propose Topological materialism as a concept that combines the thinking of networks and multi-dimensional spaces with the philosophical currents of the materialist tradition, especially the New Materialism. My basic thesis is that these cannot be perceived separately. Materialism cannot be thought without its spatial dimension, and topology without anchoring in the material world becomes a mere abstraction. The second part of the dissertation is devoted to the analysis of specific spaces: the space we inhabit, which I call phenomenological, infrastructure, logistics space, information space and the space of capital. In addition to individual analyzes, I also focus on their intersections, connections and joint operation.

PhD Thesis Summary: Imagining the West: Marginality and Possible Lives at the Outskirts of a Mexican City Mgr. Marie Heřmanová The thesis aims to develop various results of a long-term fieldwork in the city of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, México, where rural-urban migration was pervasive since the 1960s. The research concentrated on the second generation of Tzotzil and Tzeltal migrants living at the suburbs of the city. Young indigenous people, whose parents came to the city to seek jobs, are now completely bilingual (they speak their maternal language - mostly Tzotzil as well as spanish they have learned in the school in the city). They mostly work in the same areas as the first generation migrants - as shop-keepers, souvenirs sellers or street-food vendors. They are thus in everyday interaction with both tourist and expats in the city centre. These interactions and meetings are in the context of the thesis seen as a consitutive element to imageries of mobility, modernity and Western lifestyles developed by the the young indigenous people from the suburbs. The concept if "Imaginary West" (Yurchak 2005) is central in the thesis, an unseen and yet ever-present homeland of the tourists and most importantly a place where "better lives" happen. The text explores how the search for...

Univerzita Karlova v Praze Filosofická fakulta katedra estetiky Diploma thesis Šimon Svěrák Situation of the Surrealist Subject (abstract) 2012 thesis supervisor: prof. PhDr. Vlastimil Zuska, CSc. Abstract This thesis focuses on the situation of a substantial subject in the historical development of the surrealist experience and confronts it with our original postmodern interpretation of thoughts of early Marx. The surrealist consciousness is based on a dialectical opposition between rational and irrational elements of cognitive processes. André Breton apprehends this dialectics under the perspective of love life and relates it to values of love, freedom and poetry. Nevertheless, this conception changes in the immanent development of the surrealist consciousness from Breton over the work and thoughts Salvador Dalí and Mikuláš Medek to Vratislav Effenberger. Effenberger removes positive values from surrealism and puts emphasis on the critical functions of the irrational. On the psychological field, all these ideas are based on the conception of the unconscious which means there is the substantial approach in them. Our critical interpretation of Marx shows, that the surrealist concept of subject is in the contradiction with its substantial determination. The subject has to be perceived as the essential...

The thesis analyzes and compares the approaches of two authors dealing with phenomena in contemporary society. It focuses mainly on issues of lifestyle and values. The thesis asks questions related to socialization and individualization of society. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part is about definition of the basic terms (postmodernism, lifestyle, values). The second part is devoted to the concept of Gilles Lipovetsky. The third part focuses on the concept of Michel Maffesoli. In the fourth section, there is a comparison of these two concepts, where we are primarily focused on tracing argumentation clashes and controversies. In the final part, there is the presentation of the main questions and ideas, that come out on the basis of this comparison.

This thesis is concerned with Jaroslav Seifert's relationship to visual arts and artists, for it is apparent in both his writings and his biography that this relationship was not only deep, but it also served as a powerful source of inspiration for his work. This study focuses on the works of Jan Zrzavý, Toyen and Josef Sudek, since Seifert considered them extraordinary and maintained a lifelong friendship with them. However, I also consider other artists and works that Jaroslav Seifert related to in his writings. The selected topics are followed throughout the poet's life and work, and also set in the context of the given time period and shared culture. This study brings answers to the question of the nature of Seifert's relationship to visual arts and how it is reflected in his writing, and also aims to describe the way the dialogue between Seifert's texts and arts is developed based on comparison of specific visual and literary imagination. Key words: Jaroslav Seifert, Jan Zrzavý, Toyen, Josef Sudek, friendship, dialogue, visual arts, fine arts, photography, poetry, journalism, All the Beauties of the World, imagination, Devětsil, Czech culture of the 20th century.

The master thesis deals with the importance of the book in evolution of the children's imagination. The first part includes short introduction to problems of children's imagination. The second part is engaged in ontogeny of child from prenatal period to the middle childhood and in progress of key competences. It analyzes selected psychological approaches, which had the imagination as a subject of the research. The thesis explains and defines basic terms and processes of the imagination. It deals with a specific phenomenon of the children's imagination and with the evolution of the imagination. The third part introduces typical children's literature, directs on the traditional fairytale and it specifies problems of the literary characters too. It describes the historical development of the Czech book illustration, importance of the illustration in books for children and it also describes children's drawings. The fourth part applies all of previous pieces of knowledges into the work experience in kindergarten. It also describes relations between child and school or child and book. The final part of the master thesis includes summary of the information. [Author's abstract].